Talk of the Town
(NEW YORK) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced Monday that he would drop his bid for reelection as governor of Minnesota, saying that he would not be able to give a campaign all of his attention as he works to defend Minnesota against allegations of fraud and right-wing scrutiny.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — After weeks of declining to weigh in on the New York City mayor’s race, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Friday he was backing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn, said in a statement that while he and Mamdani had “areas of principled disagreement,” he acknowledged the state assemblyman’s win in the June primary and called for unity.
“Zohran Mamdani has relentlessly focused on addressing the affordability crisis and explicitly committed to being a mayor for all New Yorkers, including those who do not support his candidacy,” the congressman said in his statement.
“The stakes are existential. Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have unleashed an unprecedented assault on the economy, ripped healthcare away from my constituents, weaponized the Department of Justice against our state’s Attorney General and ordered masked agents to callously target law-abiding immigrant families,” Jeffries added.
Mamdani thanked Jeffries in a statement.
“I welcome Leader Jeffries’ support and look forward to delivering a city government and building a Democratic Party relentlessly committed to our affordability agenda — and to fighting Trump’s authoritarianism,” he said. “Our movement to turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas grows stronger by the day.”
The New York Times first reported Jeffries’ endorsement.
As recently as Friday morning, Jeffries punted on endorsing Mamdani.
“I have not refused to endorse. I refused to articulate my position, and I will momentarily, at some point in advance of early voting,” Jeffries said Friday morning.
Early voting for the election begins Saturday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — Heading into the new year, Senate Democrats are raising concerns about the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to handle the upcoming tax filing season, amid changes in leadership and to the workforce in the first year of the Trump administration.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent obtained first by ABC News, the group of 17 senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, wrote that they have “serious concerns” the IRS is “not prepared” for the next tax season, and that taxpayers “may face delays and difficulties in filing returns and receiving refunds.”
The Trump administration has conducted large-scale layoffs and voluntary buyouts — some of which have been reversed — at the IRS, which is also responsible this year for implementing new changes to the tax code following the passage of Republicans’ major tax and domestic policy bill.
Bessent has served as acting IRS commissioner since August after President Donald Trump removed Billy Long, a former GOP congressman, from the role two months after he was confirmed by the Senate and nominated Long to become the U.S. ambassador to Iceland.
Bessent became the seventh official to lead the agency in 2025, following Long and a string of other senior officials.
The law made permanent the 2017 GOP tax cuts, while boosting funding for border security and the Defense Department, scaling back some social safety net programs, and limiting taxes on tips and overtime for some workers.
In a statement to ABC News, Warren accused the Trump administration of enacting changes that will benefit wealthy Americans and make it harder for other Americans seeking help from the agency.
“Donald Trump’s endless attacks on the IRS are good news for his billionaire buddies and giant tax prep companies, but bad news for Americans getting ready for filing season. Americans rely on the IRS to file their taxes and get their tax refunds quickly and easily, and I’m pressing for answers,” she wrote.
The Democrats also cited a September report from the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on the previous filing season.
While the watchdog called the 2025 filing season “successful” and found that the agency processed more tax returns compared to the same time period in the previous year, it also found that the Trump administration’s workforce reductions “had no significant impact” on the 2025 filing season — but that they could “impact key processing programs and customer service going forward.”
According to the inspector general’s office, the staffing losses on customer service and anti-fraud teams could lead to the agency processing fewer returns, assisting fewer taxpayers, and failing to prevent $360 million in fraudulent refunds from being paid out.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to questions from ABC News about the inspector general’s report and the concerns raised by Democrats.
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said during his presidential address on Wednesday night that his administration is “bringing our economy back from the brink of ruin,” claiming that he has brought prices down across the board.
“I am bringing those high prices down and bringing them down very fast,” Trump said from the White House’s Diplomatic Room, adding, “Let’s look at the facts.”
He made sweeping claims about prices — from gasoline and groceries to airfare and hotel flights — comparing the current price to that of former President Joe Biden’s administration.
But according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the president’s claims in some cases appeared to be exaggerated, false or unverifiable.
BLS is set to release updated numbers on Thursday providing an updated look at consumer prices — the first inflation report since the end of the government shutdown.
The president said that under Biden, gasoline prices rose 30 to 50%, hotel rates rose 37% and airfares rose 31%.
“Now, under our leadership, they are all coming down and coming down fast. Democrat politicians also sent the cost of groceries soaring, but we are solving that, too,” Trump claimed.
Trump claimed that egg prices are down 82% since March and that “everything else is falling rapidly.”
ABC News has compiled fact checks on some of Trump’s claims.
Gas prices
It’s true that gas prices hit an all-time high in June 2022 under Biden, with an average price of $5.016 per gallon, per AAA.
According to AAA, the new average is $2.998. That would be an almost 50% decrease from the highest point under the Biden administration.
But when you compare gas prices to where they were just a year ago, Sept. 2025 to Sept. 2024, the latest CPI report puts gas down just .5%.
Airfare
Airline fares were up 3.2% in September under the Trump administration compared to a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Hotel rates
Hotel room rates are down .8% and car rental prices are down 5.0% over the past year, per BLS data.
Groceries
The average price of a dozen grade A eggs was $3.49 as of September, down from an all-time high of $6.23 in March — a 43% decrease, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It’s important to note, also, that egg prices were heavily affected by the avian flu.
Overall, meat prices have gone up 8.5% in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Beef prices are at a record high — up 14.7% in the past year.
Notably, Trump also doesn’t mention coffee. Coffee is up 18.9%, according to BLS data from September, the most recent available. The price of coffee has risen in part due to the president’s tariffs on places like Brazil — although last month the White House began exempting coffee from his tariffs.
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